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Monday, June 2, 2014

It started w/ a text that said something along the lines of "you're going to think I'm crazy, but we cannot find a home for this little guy. I know you already have your hands full, but can you take him?" I ran outside to talk to Superman who was planting grass seeds because our lawn guy did just as requested, he got rid of our weeds...but apparently, our yard was ONLY weeds cause all we have is dirt now. Superman contemplated. But w/in a few minutes he said "yes". I texted back "yes". We only knew he was close to a 1 yr old. No details. We said "yes" regardless.

Taking in a foster child for just a few days is known as "Emergency Foster Care". It's a VERY short term commitment to be everything that little precious angel needs until a more permanent foster home can be found.
He was delivered to our door a few hours later.
"Smiley"
He was smiling.
Happy.
Ready to play w/ the smiling strangers in front of him.
And play we did!
He just needed a safe place for a couple of days until a foster home could be found for him.
He needed a temporary family to provide him w/ hugs & kisses, a full belly, clean diapers, tickles, more hugs & kisses and a few age appropriate toys.
(His favorite toy we had were the little toy rings that you attach toys to.)
Silly baby!

Our whole family pitched in.
Sunshine girl attached to him right away since they come from similar backgrounds.
It was beautiful to see the Lord do more healing in her heart as she loved on Smiley.

Saturday bedtime rolled around and we were a little worried. We didn't know his bedtime routine. All babies are a little different and have their own quirks about how to best fall asleep. So I prayed like crazy. I applied Cedarwood oil to his feet mixed w/ coconut oil, and then I added some to a diffuser cause I'm a crazy oil lady. I prayed over him. And then I just started rocking him. And he was fast asleep in less than 15 minutes.

Our entire weekend went like normal, but w/ an extra baby. We worked on the garden. We had family time. My brother came from out of town to visit on Sunday, we all sat in the living room and played w/ the babies. We just loved seeing Smiley play w/ Tiny & enjoy himself. My sister-in-law helped watch them while I helped Matt prep dinner. Sunday night bedtime rolled around and since everything worked the night before, we repeated it again..and he was fast asleep again. Praise the Lord! Ya'll know what I'm talkin' about right? If momma can get some sleep, she can tackle just about anything the next day!

He woke up around 8am in the morning, had a good breakfast, played happily, took a 45 min nap about 3 hours later, had a good lunch, took a 45 minute nap about 3 hours later, played, giggled, chewed on things, let me have a photo op, drooled and baby talked.

He was picked up by a Worker this evening and delivered to his permanent foster home.

And that's a peek into our family's experience w/ Emergency Foster Care.
Why am I sharing this w/ you?
Because maybe you want to be involved in Foster Care, but don't feel like you can commit months/years...what if you just took in Emergency Foster kiddos once or twice a month?
There's always a way to help, if you really want to!